


Minus World - Prolouge

by Soufon



Series: Minus World [1]
Category: Paper Mario: The Origami King (Video Game), Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27755971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soufon/pseuds/Soufon
Series: Minus World [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030395
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Minus World - Prolouge

It was a warm, sunny afternoon. The old town was as dismal as ever. Shady crooks, crooked looks, and a persisting smell of chalk should’ve had Vivian shivering, but with so much ahead of her, she could hardly focus on it all. That was a good thing, she thought. Better to hurry along to that shipyard, Amidst the salty sea air lay an impressive wooden ship. It looked the same as it did on the TV. Vivian had gotten into a habit of buying things off television; some clothes, a few admittedly worthless doo-dads. Her sisters wouldn’t get off her case about that “reserve box” she blew all those coins on, but they were only teasing. They got along well enough, Vivian reasoned. She’d have to write back home often.

A group of burly mushroom people stood around by a fancy, metal ship, Vivian double-checking the brochure. A perfect match! She ran up to the two folk with an excited grin on her face.

“Hi! Are you two gentlemen part of the, uh, “Shroomstalk Initiative”? I-I signed the papers, got ‘em right here.”

Vivian held up the form packet. One of the fellows snatched it from her hands and tried to get a good look at it, squinting as he moved it about in the air.

“Ey! This look fine to you, Shroot?”  
The man turned to his mate.

“I dunno, looks a wee bit phony. Whadda you think Root?”  
The mate turned to the ship’s janitor, a scrawny figure with an exasperated face.

“The papers look fine to me, let em’ aboard. We only got one or two calls from around here anyway.”

And with that Vivian got onboard. There were a few more of those fungi folk messing about, tending to the ship and whatnot. They all kept giving her weird looks. This was understandable; her and her sisters were the only ones like them in the whole world. People were gonna be unsure of them, with their odd hexes and ghostly tails. It was why she had bought those clothes off that shopping channel. A nice shirt, some overalls and boots, and she could at least pass for one of those odd fellows back around home. Of course the sisters didn’t care for her trying to cover up her identity like that. Vivian hoped they could come around to her mindset someday.

Eventually the crew captain came aboard the ship, much smaller in stature but sporting an impressive black beard that, on closer inspection, was being held aloft by an elastic band. Did these people not grow hair? There were a few mushroom persons around Rougeport with rather well done hairdos. Perhaps they were just wearing wigs? The captain didn’t really seem to notice Vivian, and the crew didn’t notice him not noticing. She was only ordered along with the rest of them to prepare the ship for the sea, of which she obliged gladly. As the other crew mates muttered and grumbled, Vivian was oddly at ease. Maybe she was just used to being bossed around. She found the thought funny, in spite of herself.

And so it went. Hustling around the ship, minding her own business for the most part, besides an ill-conceived fling with a crooked cook. Time seemed to drift on by in that endless ocean, cold nights she spent thinking of what to write home about. Not that horrid fling, maybe the captain? Whenever there wasn’t any for her to tend to on the ship, she sometimes sneaked about to listen in on him in his cabin. He went by “Captain T’ode”, though Vivian was skeptical of that being his real name. He really was an interesting man. She thought about him more than she should’ve. So those nights went, thinking of but never actually writing those letters. 'Ode had a real beard underneath that chin-wig… .

_“Rise and shine, my brothers! We've hit land!”_

The crew bolted awake at 'Ode’s order. Vivian had been sleeping in, and frantically rushed out to meet the crew outside, bumping into a few folk in the rush. They all arranged in lines on the dock, the captain sternly looking over them all.

_“Well men, it’s been a long voyage. We’ve gone to battle with raging storms, food shortages, vile sabotage. And yet, together we have made a bold step forward! Gaze onto the grounds from which a new land will rise! Welcome all, to Shroomstalk.”_

Vivian looked out to dry land. It was… flat. A barren horizon stretching out to infinity. Of course, all had known what happened to the Mushroom Kingdom, but to see it first hand was sobering. It really was gone. The crew began unloading supplies picked up from around Rougeport, and plopping them down on the “beach”, as it were. The captain passed Vivian a glare, and held her aside.

 _“You there! I’ve heard you Rougeport fellows are hardened folk. You handle this quaint delivery, surely?”_  
Vivian squirmed in his gaze. The fact that she didn’t live there didn’t pass her mind.

“...S-sure, sir -Captain! Yes captain.”

'Ode relented with a slight unease.

_“They say underneath this coast lies a supernatural passage. Details are sparse, but there’ll be another crew on the other side. Look for a man like myself wielding a curved blade, and pass them this parcel, would you kindly?”_

“I would! Er-yes captain!”  
_“Aye.”_

Vivian tucked the parcel away and headed off for some way underground. People tended to use pipes to get around back home. Maybe there was one or two around here left intact? The ground was scorched dry from the unrelenting sunlight, not a weed or river in sight. No signs of anyone still living there. It was almost peaceful. She'd heard of the Mushroom Kingdom before - all those years ago, she had fought alongside the kingdom's one and only champion. Memories seemed like the only thing left of the place. How long had it been since then? Vivian counted the years, and shivered.

She was here now. Better late than never to lend his folks a helping hand. There was bound to be _something_ left in the endless sea of dirt and stone, and she wasn't going to turn back to her captain empty-handed. Out in the distance, almost invisible, there was a faint patch of darkness. Vivian found what she’d been looking for - a clean hole, lined with metal. A pipe. Well, it “was” a pipe. Without a moment's hesitation, Vivian headed down, and began scoping out the cavern within.

The other end of the pipe was in much better shape. A bit rusty though. The cavern stretched out far forwards, with a solid brick wall behind it, and a decaying brick surface above. A scant few candles lit the area by the pipe. Maybe the kingdom wasn't so abandoned after all? Some more pipes were visible leading further into the darkness, a darkness Vivian didn't really want to gaze into much longer. Something about that wall caught her attention. She leaned against, trying to feel out a hidden switch, or false wall. After an embarrassing amount of time spent investigating each and every brick, she noticed something much more important: the brick wall wasn't perfectly flush with the walls of the cavern. There was a small, almost paper-thin gap. Vivian decided to approach the problem in her own way. With a deep breath, she punched right through the bricks, dust and rubble flying across the cavern into a nearby pit. Another swing, and another… with time she dug out that hidden room.

A lone pipe stood out in the dark. It was in almost perfect condition. She leapt to it’s top, and slid down into the depths, parcel firmly in hand.

Something didn't feel right about the trip down.


End file.
